Published December 2, 2016 at 7:54 PM Updated December 5, 2016 at 2:02 PM

We’ve all heard the claims that self-driving cars will revolutionize motoring and the way we get around. But hardly anyone has had a chance to ride one.

Now students at the Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley are among the very first to test out the pioneering autonomous campus shuttle.

CCTV’s Mark Niu takes us for a ride.

Students at a California university try autonomous campus shuttle

Students at a California university try autonomous campus shuttle

We've all heard the claims that self-driving cars will revolutionize motoring and the way we get around. But hardly anyone has had a chance to ride one. Now students at the University of Santa Clara in Silicon Valley are among the very first to test out the pioneering autonomous campus shuttle. CCTV's Mark Niu takes us for a ride.

On the campus of Santa Clara University in California lies a modified golf cart that is reinventing mobility. It’s called Auro.

Underneath the hood, Auro packs of computer processors power its light detection and ranging sensors.

Being on a private college campus allows Auro to experiment more freely, bypassing the legal hurdles of public roads.

But the tech startup and university are being cautious putting an engineer with emergency controls in the back of each ride.

The self-driving shuttle is programmed to match the speed of students as opposed to trying to speed up and pass them.

The shuttle does makes some precision turns.

A key goal is to better understand how the autonomous vehicle interacts with both students and the public.

Auro is perfecting an app where students will be able to hail the shuttle by mobile.

It hopes in a year’s time to be on at least 15 campuses across the country.